Paloma is the youngest child of Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald and Martin Fitzgerald. She was born shortly before her father disappeared, and was less than a year old when her mother sent her to Mexico to live with her sister because she couldn't put the burden of raising an infant on Antonio, who was already having to raise his younger siblings. She has not come back to Harmony since 1985, and was seldom mentioned.

When Pilar became ill, Miguel finally decided to call Paloma when their mother was on her death bed. Upon meeting Paloma in Mexico, it was soon apparent that she wasn't overly concerned with the happenings in Harmony. After being sent away, Paloma just didn't care what happened to the family she felt didn't care about her. Paloma returned to Harmony with Luis and Sheridan, along with Bob and Ellen Wheeler, who had raised her. She was shocked but pleased to learn that Bob Wheeler was really her presumed dead father, Martin Fitzgerald, and even when Ellen was revealed as Katherine Crane, Paloma did not waver in her love for the two people who had been there her entire life.

Paloma soon built a relationship with her mother, and it wasn't long before she had two best friends in Harmony -- Simone Russell and Jessica Bennett. She accepted Simone's sexuality unconditionally, never wavering in her support of her friend, and together she and Simone helped cover Jessica's tracks when it looked like Jessica had been killing johns in Harmony. Together, the three girls went to Rome in search of some priceless paintings, and discovered a connection to an ancient chalice that Alistair Crane was also looking for.